DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Political Entrepreneurs and the Dynamics of Privatization among the Samburu of Kenya-An Analysis Using Experimental Economics

制度被定义为“游戏规则”，它支配着社会结构中参与者之间的互动。 成功的经济发展依赖于适当的制度和有益的制度变革。 本论文研究由一位来自华盛顿大学圣路易斯分校的人类学学生进行，将研究肯尼亚桑布鲁地区，暹罗布和姆巴林贡两个地方的牧民和农民之间的制度变迁。 使用传统的民族志参与观察和抽样调查以及实验经济学的新技术，学生将研究与改变土地保有权相关的合作和自我服务行为的变化。在传统长老的权威受到挑战的同时，公共管理的土地正在转变为私人拥有和管理的土地。假设将被测试有关的意识形态和说服力，社会资本从现有的社交网络，并选择性的激励作为动机的政治支持改变社会和经济机构的相对使用。 这个过程在Siambu进行得很好，在Mbaringon几乎没有开始，所以比较将揭示这个过程。这项研究将促进我们对经济发展、私有化的福利效应以及私有化对个人行为和遵守社会规范的影响的理解。与此同时，它促进了我们对世界这一重要领域的了解，并有助于培养一名年轻的社会科学家。

Institutions are defined as the "rules of the game" that govern interaction among players in a social structure. Successful economic development relies on appropriate institutions and beneficial institutional change. This dissertation research by an anthropology student from Washington University-St. Louis will study institutional change among Kenyan pastoralists and farmers in two locations of Samburu district, Siambu and Mbaringon. Using traditional ethnographic participant observation and sample surveys as well as newer techniques of experimental economics, the student will examine the changes in cooperation and self-serving behavior associated with changing land tenure. Commonly managed land is being converted into privately owned and managed land at the same time that the authority of the traditional elders is being challenged. Hypotheses will be tested about the relative use of ideology and persuasion, social capital from existing social networks, and selective incentives as motivators of political support for changing social and economic institutions. The process is well underway in Siambu and barely begun in Mbaringon so the comparison will shed light on the process. This research will advance our understanding of economic development, the welfare effects of privatization, and the impacts of privatization on individual behavior and adherence to social norms. At the same time it advances our knowledge of this important area of the world and contributes to the training of a young social scientist.